The poisoned Apple
by magicheese
Summary: You may work out that I like poisoning Merlin, with him dying and Arthur all worried.. I don't really understand why because I love him to bits! Merlin eats a poison apple intended for Arthur...the effects...make Merlin younger, or, in Gaius' terms 'de-aged.' As well as caring for Merlin, there could be a problem searching for the powerful sorcerer who enchanted the apple...
1. Chapter 1

Merlin sighed as he walked slowly down the long corridors of Camelot, carrying a tray holding Arthur's impressively sized breakfast. It was still early in the morning for everyone else, but for Merlin this was normal. (Although he _did_ find it very early and more than often overslept- to the annoyance of a certain royal prat.)He was on his usual rounds to wake Arthur, give him breakfast, help him get ready for his knight training and then do a lot of chores. The young warlock must have walked down this route a million times and he didn't need to concentrate. Wearily, his eyes wandered down to the food on the plate he was carrying, he was very hungry. Getting up at stupid o'clock in the mornings usually didn't allow much time for breakfast, in fact, today he had overslept and had been forced to skip breakfast entirely, just so he could be on time to deliver another breakfast to someone else. Merlin didn't see the justice in this and just as he rounded the corner towards the prat's room, he came to the conclusion that no one would notice an apple was missing from the royal breakfast.

Merlin pushed the grand wooden door of Arthur's room shut and turned to walk through the his chambers as the lock clicked into place. Merlin had one of the biggest shocks of his life.

Well obviously he had had much more shocking and dramatic experiences in his short lifetime, but seeing as the young manservant was still half asleep and not expecting this, it still made him yelp and drop the tray of neatly arranged food with a clatter.

Arthur was awake. Arthur was awake and out of bed and dressed and standing up, looking at Merlin with a slightly shocked expression on his face. 'What jumped you Merlin?! Pft, you clumsy fool! Careful with my breakfast!'

'Sire! It's just…, well I'm used to seeing you completely asleep when I come in, and, well, it just took me by surprise… after all… it is still early…' Merlin bent down and proceeded to pick up Arthurs meal and arrange it hurriedly back on the tray. 'Yes, well anything could scare you Merlin- you buffoon '

While Merlin was on his hands and knees, he saw the apple he was planning on eating resting on the floor by the table leg, he reached out grabbed it, and as swiftly as he could, shoved it in his pocket. Then he finished clearing up the mess, stood up and placed the tray of food on the table loudly.

While Arthur was tucking into his breakfast, Merlin took the apple out of his pocket, took a bite and hastily hid it behind his back.

The apple was disgusting. It had no flavour of 'apple' whatsoever, it was bitter, sour and had a strange tangy tinge to It, making Merlin grimace. With his bad luck, he wasn't surprised that the piece of food he had taken wasn't decent.

Arthur looked up from his breakfast and noticed Merlin, 'Are you smirking Merlin? Don't do that! Please! It really doesn't suit you!' Arthur shot, but his look quickly turned inquisitive, waiting for some form of clever response. Instead, Merlin produced and apple from behind his back. 'Oh, I was just eating my breakfast… this isn't the best apple in the world'' he mumbled, through a mouthful. He swallowed and took another big bite of the apple, hoping the next bite would get better (It didn't) . 'Hang on Merlin, did you say you were 'eating your breakfast' because I'm pretty sure you're not meant to be eating on the job' Arthur friendlily shot. Merlin stopped chewing and swallowed- with difficulty. He then appeared to be conjuring up a valid excuse, when Arthur noticed his eyes absent-mindedly, wander to the food in front of Arthur, and just as Merlin was opening his mouth, Arthur interrupted:' M_er_lin! Did you _steal _my apple?!' Arthur snorted loudly at Merlin. The dark-haired boy looked around, slightly panicked, this was going to win him at least a few days in the stocks. So instead of thinking up a clever come-back, Merlin just took another bite of the disgusting piece of fruit and choked it down as fast as he could. 'Arthur- you honestly wouldn't want to at this!'

Arthur snorted back, 'I bet there's nothing wrong with it Merlin- and- you should _not_ be stealing my food! You should have your own breakfast!'

'I overslept' Merlin replied quickly in a slightly strangled voice,' and your right, there is nothing wrong with this apple! Would you like to try?' Merlin threw a sneaky glance at his master.

'_You're the_ only thing that's wrong Merlin. You're just a clumsy_, fussy_ little fool- so how about _you_ eat the apple without complaining like a little girl.' Merlin nodded at Arthur and took a slightly smaller bite this time, and concentrated on keeping his expression composed while carefully chewing on the gross lump of food, and what seemed like after a lifetime for Merlin, he finally swallowed with a gasp. '-rthur,_ that_ is not 'fit for a king'' Arthur raised his eyebrows at his friend and reached his hand over towards him. Merlin put the evil apple in Arthur's outstretched hand, 'be careful' Merlin joked.


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi again! Sorry it's been a while since I updated! But here's the next chapter :) Please review, make suggestions, or just reading would make me happy! Thank you so much to those who have reviewed and everything! Bye for now! :) _

**I don't own Merlin D':**

* * *

_' Merlin nodded at Arthur and took a slightly smaller bite this time, and concentrated on keeping his expression composed while carefully chewing on the gross lump of food, and what seemed like after a lifetime for Merlin, he finally swallowed with a gasp. '-rthur, that is not 'fit for a king'' Arthur raised his eyebrows at his friend and reached his hand over towards him. Merlin put the evil apple in Arthur's outstretched hand, 'be careful Merlin joked. _

* * *

Arthur held the apple firmly in his grasp and brought it slowly towards his mouth, he stopped just before the offending fruit touched his royal lips.

Arthur licked the apple quickly.

Merlin folded his arms, a small smile playing across his lips. Arthur looked up from the apple to Merlin in disgust, 'How could you even _eat_ that?'

'We're not all spoilt prats now are we?' Merlin retorted, weakly, the coughed, quite hard and groaned loudly, unfolding his arms to use them to lean on the wooden table. Arthur turned his gaze back over to the apple he was grasping and started to glare at it. After a while he dropped it back on to the table, sighing and lazily let it roll of onto the floor.

Arthur was chewing some cheese carefully, lost in thought, glad it was one of those days where he did not have to be ready early for his princely duties, when he heard his manservant groan in the back of his mind. Merlin coughed loudly, pulling Arthur back into reality. 'Merlin if you're going to be sick, do it in here,' Arthur joked, sliding a metal jug underneath Merlin's head. Merlin then coughed one of the most painful coughs Arthur had ever heard. It sounded as if something mercy-less was grating its way down the inside of his servants throat, making even him wince.

Arthur watched Merlin carefully; he was leaning on the table with his head hung lazily over the jug and his face scrunched up in pain. To Arthur's surprise, Merlin opened his mouth and started spewing discussing looking yellowish watery sick, just next to the metal jug, with a stomach-churning sound. Arthur jumped up from where he was sitting and agilely ran around the table to where Merlin was. He jumped around nervously-not quite sure of what to do, but after a few moments, Merlin finished being sick with a groan.

Arthur quickly grabbed a chair and slid it underneath Merlin, who collapsed back into it, gasping. 'Merlin? Are you ok?' It was a stupid question, but Merlin still nodded weakly. 'Trust you to miss the jug!' Arthur said, trying to lighten the mood, 'You know who will have to clean that up then?' Merlin nodded again in response, his face scrunched up in pain. He coughed another of those painful coughs, wracking his whole body.

* * *

Merlin's throat felt raw and simply breathing was painful, hi stomach was aching along with his entire body and his mouth was full of a sick tasting acidy substance after throwing up. 'G-Gaius' he managed to choke out weakly.

* * *

Arthur was frozen in place, the sudden turn of events had left him confused and he just stared at Merlin, slumped in the chair that was looking much too big for him at that moment. Merlin's breathing was raspy and painful to listen to. Arthur's head was spinning as he watched Merlin's eyebrows pull together in pain and saw him trying to say something; 'G-Gaius' Merlin choked out of his horrid, raw sounding throat._ Of course!_ While Arthur was standing there paralysed, his servant- and best friend- the one in pain, was the one who could think what to do next. Arthur was angry with himself beyond belief and was internally fuming as he speedily strode over to the door and leaned out into the corridors. 'Thank the Gods' he whispered to himself- a general castle maid was walking towards him, carrying a pile of laundry, 'excuse me!' Arthur called, 'Could you go and fetch Gaius, immediately- tell him it's an emergency.' The maid nodded and scurried off in the direction of Gaius' chambers.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3, here you go! There's more this time, I'm getting the hang of it! And I don't own Merlin either :(

* * *

_'excuse me!' Arthur called, 'Could you go and fetch Gaius, immediately- tell him it's an emergency.' The maid nodded and scurried off in the direction of Gaius' chambers. _

* * *

Gaius strode into Arthur's chambers as fast as his aged legs would allow. Arthur was standing impatiently next to Merlin, who was just looking up at Arthur, coughing occasionally.

Gaius stepped hurried over to his ward and stood over him. "What's happened?!" The old man asked worriedly to Arthur, who was biting his nails. "I don't know-he just sort of- well started coughing- and then well- threw up..." Arthur gestured towards the watery puddle of yellowish stink Merlin had produced. Gaius grumbled and checked Merlin's pulse. He quickly pulled back and looked back and Arthur. But the younger boy had seen the worried expression that had fleetingly crossed the old man's face before composing himself back to the composed expressionless physician. Arthur leaned over and felt Merlin's pulse. It was erratic.

* * *

By now the young warlock had drifted off into a painful sleep, interrupted with the occasional cough, he felt like his throat had shrunk and was cut raw, it was a painful challenge sucking up air. But then there was this heavenly liquid trickled down his throat that cleaned and cooled a lot down, he sighed and drifted into a deeper more comfortable rest.

* * *

Gaius lifted one of Merlin's eyelids and peered in carefully. He then stood up - a little stiffly- and turned around to face Arthur. "Is there any water?" The physician enquired with a slight urgency to his tone and he was quickly rewarded with a goblet of water from Arthur. Gaius turned back round and carefully trickled it down the young boy's raw throat. Merlin seemed to sigh in satisfaction. Gaius then stood back up again and put the goblet back on to the messy wooden table. He then confronted Arthur.

"Well, what I can see, is that Merlin has been poisoned."

"What? He can't be! "Arthur protested "what's going to happen to him?"

Gaius raised his eyebrow impossibly high "well sire, that is the problem- I have never seen a poison like it, has Merlin drunken anything at all today?"

"No!"

"Ok then, well I suggest I shall watch over him, for the time being, and you get on with your knight training in the afternoon.'

But Arthur refused "Gaius-no. I will watch over Merlin. But could you go and notify Sir Leon that I will not be attending knight training and he can be in charge instead. "

"Of course sire, I will also do a tad of research" and with that'll final comment, Gaius produced a small vile from his bag and filled It with Merlin's sick from the table, making Arthur's nose wrinkle. He then turned and left with a bow.

* * *

Arthur awoke to the sound of moaning, he opened his eyes to see Merlin, waking up as well. He took a glance out of the window- looked around mid-afternoon. Arthur snapped open his eyes and stood up with a jump: he was meant to be watching over Merlin.

"A-Arthur?" Merlin said weakly, sitting up in the chair "what happened?" Well at least his voice didn't sound painful and raw anymore. "Do you feel alright Merlin?" Arthur asked, concerned. "Yeah, much better than before." Merlin replied, a bit louder, with a stretch. He then slowly stood up with a yawn "So what did happen?" Merlin asked for the second time. He now looked almost completely fine "oh well I'm not quite sure really-are you slouching again? _Mer_lin -I've told you not to do that! You could really hurt yourself!" Merlin looked around, confused, and he tried standing up even straighter, but it was visible, that Merlin looked a tiny bit shorter. He was infact looking Arthur straight in the eye- which usually didn't happen as Merlin - normally was the teensiest bit taller than Arthur. Well- he looked it. It was only by a small amount, but the subject did have a-tendency to spark arguments, as neither of them agreed on who was the taller. When standing next to each other, Merlin defiantly had the upper hand, as he was far skinnier, making him look stretched upwards, plus his chunky brown boots were much thicker than Arthur's long black leather boots, and he additional factor Arthur mentioned a lot of the time was that Merlin's hair was simply untameable, infact the exact words Arthur had used during some strange argument or ranting were "your strange hair _MER_lin, looks almost as clumsy as you!" And it did look that way compared to Arthur's tame, brushed hair, which grew in one direction, when Merlin's grew in every direction possible- including upwards.

Once, the argument about who was taller, had got so out of hand that Gaius had to accurately measure them, back to back like they were children, with bare feet and after attempting to flatten Merlin's unique raven hair, the conclusion was they were both exactly the same height.

Gaius walked into Arthur's chambers, to find the two of them standing close together, glaring each other in the eye.

Something was wrong. Making him fear that what he had found out while doing research made him very much correct.

"I've brought some coughing syrup for Merlin's throat" Gaius said as he walked through the room to stand next to the two boys. "Thank you Gaius, but my throat has seemed to have gotten much better after what you have me earlier" Merlin said- not looking away from Arthur.

"That was water Merlin" explained Arthur dryly- who also did not unlock his stare.

After a few seconds of the three of them just standing there, Arthur finally tore his gaze off Merlin and looked over to Gaius. "So- did you find out more about the poison?"

"I did" Gaius nodded " I wasn't sure if I was right or not, but I fear what seems to have happened is some sort of de-ageing spell- incredibly rare" Gaius frowned at Merlin "I have no idea of how this could have happened, but it seems this example seems to be incredibly powerful, I cannot tell how much, but Merlin, the effects are already visible- so there must be some exceedingly powerful sorcery involved"

Merlin's gaze snapped over to Gaius, panicked "W-what? When will this stop?!"

"I cannot tell" Gaius frowned. "Merlin do you have any idea how this could have happened?"

Merlin seemed to think for a while, before realisation flashed over his face "oh!"

"What is it Merlin?" Arthur asked - who was now genuinely concerned. "The apple!" Exclaimed the shorter Merlin "it's the only thing I've eaten to day, and it didn't taste right at all!"

"Wait- so that means the poison was intended for me... Because it was for my breakfast, just, _Mer_lin decided to eat my breakfast...Yes?" Arthur figured out. "It also means there is a sourer inside Camelot - if they haven't fled already. But why would anyone want to 'de-age' me?"

"Again, I do not know" Gaius sighed "for now I suggest we watch you Merlin," he nodded towards the oddly shortish Merlin, who looked out of place. "How do you mean?" Merlin enquired

"We will have to keep track of your physical age; we don't know how powerful this is and when it will stop"

"Oh no no no" Merlin's face fell and he sighed deeply, looking down at his thick brown boots, past his ever-so-slightly baggier trousers.

"Don't worry Merlin" Arthur patted him on the shoulder, just before Merlin's head snapped up in realisation "Merlin?"

"Arthur are you alright?" Merlin whispered quickly.

"Sorry?" Argue was perplexed, Merlin was one for complaining about un-important little things, but when the situation was serious Merlin usually kept quiet, or worried about other things instead of himself and this was always a bad sign. "Merlin, honestly I don't know what you're talking about!"

"No, seriously, Arthur, you-you...licked it... Didn't you?"

Arthur looked wide-eyed at Merlin "Gaius?" He called

"Yes Sire?"

"Um-I... Licked the apple..."

"Hmm- well I don't suspect anything will happen to you Arthur- as you did not consume any of the poison- how much did Merlin have?"

"Most of the apple..." Arthur felt a guilty pang, but did not mention that he had told Merlin to eat it after he had complained about it not tasting right. The court physician sighed - but kept his expression unreadable. "Hmmm- Let's at least start keeping track of your physical age ... We shall keep a growth chart! " the raven haired boy despaired and stayed, frozen in place- unlike Arthur, who sighed and said after biting his lip " take your boots of Merlin, we can compare you to me first"

This was not getting any better for Merlin.


End file.
